Chapter 55 A Midnight Stroll

After they all got new clothes, the girls followed Lilly as she showed them around the place.

"This is... And this room is..." Lilly explained the purpose of each room as they went past it.

After touring the rest of the place, Lilly turned to them and said. "I'll leave you girls for now. I'm going to rest for a bit. Just be back in the dining room for dinner!"

Lilly waved them goodbye as they did the same. Lilly then went into her room and left the girls to manage their own.

An awkward silence emerged from the group.

Rose spoke up and said. "It's kinda lonely without Lilly, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." The other two girls said unison as they nodded.

Without really anything to do, the girls went back into their room and talked about random things.

After laying around for a couple of hours, the girls heard a noise outside their doors.

"Let go of me, you stupid lizard!!!" A manly voice screamed. A couple of low growling noises responded a bit later.

The girls decided to check it out and proceed to poke their heads out of their room.

They saw V, walking away, while grumbling with Loki, who's biting down on his leg.

The girls watched the scene with a blank stare.

Suddenly, they felt a presense behind them.

They turned around and stared at a blond woman with purple eyes.

It was Hela. And, she is squated down behind them, watching the scene with Loki and V play out.

Noticing their surprised gazes, Hela waved a hand at them while saying. "Hello, I'm Hela."

The girls gave her a nod as Amber said. "We know. We have already been introduced to each other."

Hela gave her a nod while wearing a blank face.

Soon, Loki walked up to them and hissed at Hela.

Hela pointed at the girls while she gave Loki a few gestures the girls couldn't understand. Loki then turned around and began walking down the hallway where V went.

"Follow..." Hela said, giving the girls a smile before following Loki.

The girls looked at each other with hesitant faces, but they decided to follow them in the end.

They were led to the middle of the place, the T-junction, and headed towards the hallway that led to the exit.

While walking, they caught up to the angry V, who walked slightly in front of them. He walked over to the side and entered a door.

Loki and Hela followed him in, causing the girls to go in as well.

They were now inside a small hallway. It's only classified as small because the hallways behind them are huge. The size of these hallways are the normal variant.

V opened another door at the end of the hallway. As he opened it, a cold wind gently went past the girls.

"It's the outside." The girls simultainously thought. All of them proceeded to walk out orderly.

Once outside, they closed the door that looked completely camoflauged against the cliff face.

Miya breathed in the night air as the stars illuminated the chilly landscape. They then continued to follow V and the others further away from the door.

Not too far away, they saw a bright light between two hills. Upon getting closer, they saw that it was a fire, a bonfire's blaze to be exact.

Unlike a normal bonfire, the wood that is being burn isn't a couple of sticks, but instead whole logs.

And the meat that are currently getting cooked isn't small bits of meat, but instead a large defeathered carcass of a giant bird being roasted over the fire.

On the side, a couple of stripped logs are set, looking like a set of benches. People are currently sitting on them as they approach.

The person sitting on them are, Lilly, Morgan, and Chrys. V then joined them, but sat on the completely opposite side as they got closer.

"Oh, you girls finally made it!" Lilly said as she saw the girls making their approach.

Upon sitting down with them, Rose asked. "What's this all about?"

"This? This is something Hela and Loki set up." Lilly replied.

"I also helped." Morgan, who was sat between Lilly and Chrys, chimed in.

Chrys looked at her and said. "I didn't know you help."

Morgan looked at him with her emotionless, blue eyes and replied. "Earlier, I saw Hela and Loki sneaking about. When I asked them what they were doing, both of them began hissing at me. I followed them and saw this. I then decided to help them hunt that bird."

Looking up at the bird suspended above the blazing fire, Chrys replied. "Mmm, a perfectly logical reasoning."

Miya then asked Lilly. "Do we need to do something?"

Lilly waved her hand in front of her while saying. "Nah, Hela's got this. Just wait and you'll get your share."

Miya nodded and waited like the others.

Soon, Hela lowered the roasted bird and began carving it up as she began handing out everyone's shares.

The night then proceeded like usual, they ate the food, watched V get bullied, watch the stars above, the usual. The atmosphere around is very light and happy.

While the others did their own things, Miya is just sitting down on her seat, and cleaning up the leftovers on her plate while looking like she is thinking about something.

"This reminds me of home..." Miya thought as she watched the scene in front of her.

She stared up at the sky and closed her eyes as she began to reminice the memories she held dear.

A lit bonfire, seats all around it, a happy cheery atmosphere, all of this things filled Miya thoughts.

But she wasn't thinking about the scene in front of her, but instead it's a similar scene in the past.

"I remember back in the village, we used to light a bonfire whenever a celebration is in order. The last bonfire we lit was about a month ago now." Miya said to herself.

Miya opened her eyes and looked directly at the fire as she thought. "I wonder how everyone's doing? Are doing fine? Are they even aliv-"

Before Miya could finish her line of thought, a sudden gust of chilly wind swept across the place.

A second later, Miya let out a sneeze. Lilly looked at her and asked. "Are you okay? Is it too cold for you?"

Miya swayed her head and replied as she wiped the tears in her eyes. "N-no. It's because the wind swept some ash to my face."

"Well, if you say so..."

Lilly then turned her attention to the act of bullying V is experiencing in front of her while smiling happily.

Miya then decided to watch what was happening with Lilly. Completely forgetting the things she was thinking about.

After the fire was put out and everyone returned to their rooms, Miya laid on her bed with her eyes wide open.

"Why can't I sleep?" Miya asked herself.

Miya rolled over and asked herself another question. "Is it because of the nightmare I experienced?"

She placed her hand on her chest to feel her heartbeat, which was beating faster than normal.

Suddenly, Rose voiced whispered. "Psst! Hey, Miya. You still awake?"

Miya moved her body in such a way that she could look up the bunk bed. Her eyes met Rose's pink eyes as she replied. "Uh-huh."

"Are you feeling okay?" Rose asked.

"I-I'm not sure. I just can't find some sleep." Miya replied.

While looking down from above, Rose asked. "You're still thinking about last night, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah..." Miya replied.

"Well, when I can't sleep because of something, I usually just take a midnight stroll." Rose said.

"I already tried that though." Miya answered.

"Well, if that didn't work. I have another way to put you to sleep." Rose said.

"Really? What's that?" Miya asked.

"It's called putting you to sleep, also known as knocking you out." Rose said to her with a smile.

Miya stood up from her bed and said. "Uh, I think I'll just take a walk instead."

"Okay, but my offer still stands. Hehehe!" Rose giggled.

Miya gave her a smile before she left the room.

Feeling the light enter the room, Amber rose from her sleep and asked. "What was that light? Is it already school time?"

Rose went back to her bed and said. "Go back to sleep, Amber. I already told the doctor to let us sleep in."

"Father? Okay... I'll take a few more minutes." Amber sleepily said as she went back to sleep.

In the illuminated hallways, Miya walked down while inspecting every little thing she could see.

A little dent on the walls, an uneven tile, a slightly dimmer light, all of this things seemed to have stuck out all of a sudden. Making Miya feel very agitated.

Miya shook her head and continued her walk.

After a short while, she then arrived in front of a door.

"This door goes to?"

As if to answer Miya's question, the door opened itself.

Without thinking too heavily, Miya walked in.

She saw a man sitting in front of two piles of black rocks. The man wore a black jacket with yellow accents.

It was Chrys.

"Why are you here, Miya?" Chrys asked without turning around.

Realizing what room she just entered, Miya frantically looked for an excuse, but after a short while of thinking, she decided to tell him the truth. "I-I can't sleep."

"I see. Then, if you want to watch, then just watch." Chrys said as he took a rock from one pile and threw a rock to the other.

"Uh, okay..." Miya gave him a nod as she sat on one of the table in the room. She watched Chrys' back as he continued to do what he was doing.

Miya felt extremly tense the longer she stayed in the room. Squirming all around the place, looking for something to distract her.

Feeling Miya's movement, Chrys said. "If something is bothering you, try not to think about it too hard."

Surprised by his sudden statement, Miya frantically nodded even though Chrys couldn't see it, as his back was turned towards her.

Feeling as though the atmosphere felt less tense, Miya decided to ask a question. "What... do we do?"

Without turning around, Chrys said. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what are we doing. I thought we were going to save my family?" Miya said.

"We are going to save your family. We're just waiting." Chrys stated.

"Waiting for what?" Miya asked.

"Waiting for Set and Celine to come back. They should return in two weeks." Chrys replied.

"Two weeks...?" Miya repeated in low voice.

"Yes, two weeks." Chrys said.

Miya took a deep breath and asked. "Do you think my family will be okay in two weeks?"

Chrys took a moment to reply before saying. "I don't know..."

"Okay then..." Miya said, sounding a bit disappointed.

A long silence passed, as the two of them didn't start a conversation with the other. Chrys continued whatever he's doing while Miya watched from the table.

After a long ear splitting silence, Miya decided to ask another question. "Do you think my family is okay?"

"We could only hope." Chrys replied immediately.

"Okay, I understand." Miya said.

"Yeah..." Chrys said as he continued his work.

After a while of just looking around and dangling her legs on the table, Miya decided to finally ask. "May I ask what your doing?"

Without turning around, Chrys said. "I'm training."

Feeling her curiousity growing, Miya asked. "Can I watch closer?"

"Of course." Chrys replied.

Miya then stood up and sat a few feet to Chrys' side. She picked up one of the rocks from one of the piles and asked. "What are you doing with these rocks?:

"They're coal. I'm trying to compress them down." Chrys said as he held a piece of coal in his hand, that slowly seemed to get smaller.

"When you say 'compress', do you mean make it smaller?" Miya asked as she played around with the piece of coal in her palm.

"Yes..." Chrys replied as he continued his routine of grabbing a piece of coal, compressing it, before throwing it with the others.

Miya looked down on the coal on her hand and asked. "Can't you just crush them?"

As she said that, she crushed the coal in her grasp, turning it to smaller pieces.

"I'm not trying to destroy the coal. I'm trying to make it compact by manipulating it from the inside while giving continuos force from the outside." Chrys explained calmly.

Miya loosened her grip on her hand, causing the small bits of coal to drop as she just watched.

Miya then asked a couple more questions while Chrys answered them calmly. The tense atmosphere from earlier slowly began to disappear.

After a while of asking questions and having them answered, Miya let out a yawn.

"You're tired. Go to bed. I'm not carrying you." Chrys said.

"Yes..." Miya replied as she stood up and walked towards the door while wobbling.

As she was about to exit the door, she hit the table to the side, causing her to say. "Oops!"

Chrys turned his head slightly to the side to look back for a moment before returning it to it's original place, saying. "Be careful."

As she went out the door, Miya replied. "Yes..."

After closing the door and a short walk. Miya somehow managed to get back to her room.

She had a conversation with Rose, but Miya was too tired to remember properly what they talked about.

The moment Miya's body laid on the bed, she immediately fell asleep with a peaceful smile on her face.